Our mooring did turn out to be perfect. Urca is a very smart district, a sort of Chelsea, and we just left our dinghy tied up but unlocked on the quay whenever we went ashore. We were also made very welcome by the yachting community here all of whom were extremely helpful (and on whose behalf we now have a cargo of books we are to deliver to the tiny community on an island we are to pass soon).

 

The “Lonely Planet” guide book says that Rio is really dangerous, and you mustn’t go out with a bag, and certainly not a rucksack, but rather walk around with a shopping bag (Qu: how does one tell that an Englishman’s trying to be smart? A: his Sainsbury’s bag is nearly new). It also says that it’s best to wear shorts, T-shirt and flip-flops in order to blend in. Well, that’s all rubbish. If you want to blend in, wear smart clothes and carry a brief-case or the modern equivalent of a computer-sized rucksack.

 

We liked Rio and felt safe and in an interesting and cosmopolitan city. There’s no rubbish in the streets either. It bodes well for the Olympics. We ‘did’ the mandatory tourist attractions as well as spending two days in the centre just wandering (and eating and drinking). Loads of taxis, as well as underground trains and buses with quite easily understood routes.

 

 

Awelina on her mooring looking up at, and looking down from, the Corcovado.

 

The mean streets of Urca where you mustn’t go out with a rucksack,

 

lest you get mogged.

 

Also in Urca is the bottom of the cable car to the  top of the sugar loaf. View down to our mooring from the top

 

and of Copacabana to the west. But the amazing thing is that despite being perched right on the top, there is a patch of rain-forest, the Mata Atlantica.

 

To check in with the port authority we also had to go to ‘Centro’, where all the banks and big office blocks are (plus lots of restaurants, an amazing boat chandler, a shopping enclave covering practically a square mile, and multiple parks).

 

But it is ‘abroad’: instead of rabbits and squirrels there are agoutis and lemurs!

 

 

Quite a lot is being restored or otherwise fettled for the Olympics, especially tram lines.

 

Less good is the (only) marina in Rio ‘Marina Gloria’ which friends from the CA described as the worst marina they’ve ever visited.

 

The stink of sewage is still over powering, the pontoons obviously ‘ideal’ and what happens to boats left here clear to see! This part of the city’s infrastructure will NOT be ready for the Olympics.

 

The next day we went to the Jardim Botanico.

 

It’s a formal garden albeit on a grand scale, but there’s also a long walk through a remnant of the now scarce Mata Atlantica, the coastal rain forest.

 

This was visited by Darwin when the Beagle stopped here between the 4th and 8th of April: exactly our dates.

 

After the garden, we went to have a late lunch on the shore of Lagoa (the lake): home from home!

 

Next day we went up the Corcovado (hunch back) which is the name of the mountain on which is the statue of Cristo Redentor. The funicular was built in the 19th centaury, well before the statue which was planned in 1922 and not completed for another decade.

 

There was speechifying by an Italian representative of the Pope while we were up there, while the crowd were pressing around taking selfies. We non-religious people were much more respectful.

 

Actually the best part of the trip was the funicular train ride which grinds slowly through rain forest. We’ve taken rather a lot of photos of rain forest, but that’s because it has to be seen to be believed.

A view from the train window.

 

Another plus point for the train and for the cable car is that perforce one has to meet other people. On the sugar loaf we met a couple of sailing ladies from Australia on a world cruise and on the funicular we met two chaps from California wearing Tilley hats bought specially for the trip, which, as I was wearing mine, made us a ‘team Tilley’. They are on a 1 year round the world trip (www.vagabondyear.com): Europe and then Istanbul next stop.

 

While drinking Brazilian Prosecco (Fiona’s birthday) we met a Canadian couple celebrating retirement by volunteering to teach in Brazil before joining the army and starting basic training.